Dota 2: SumaiL to miss out on TI 2023 after Aster bomb out of Chinese regional qualifiers

Pakistani-American Dota 2 superstar Sumail "SumaiL" Hassan, the youngest player to ever win The International (TI) back in 2015 when he was just 16 years old, will be missing out on TI 2023 this October after Team Aster bombed out of the Chinese regional qualifiers on Sunday (20 August).

Aster were one of the biggest favourites to qualify for TI 2023 out of China, thanks in large part to SumaiL's continued excellence from the midlane role.

Aster had a good start to their campaign, sweeping Division II squad Team Zero in their first match of the qualifiers' double-elimination bracket to advance to the upper bracket semifinals.

Aster's next match was against Xtreme Gaming, another big contender in the Chinese qualifiers. However, Aster ended up losing that series, 2-1, and were dropped to the lower bracket quarterfinals as a result.

SumaiL and Aster still had a chance to bounce back and contend for a spot in TI 2023 if they could defeat their next opponent, Team Bright, a squad that started the 2023 Dota Pro Circuit (DPC) season in Division II.

Despite being the heavy favourites against their lower-ranked opponents, Aster fell to Bright in a 2-1 upset to get knocked out of contention for a spot at TI 2023.

SumaiL still put up a commendable performance despite Aster's loss to Bright and averaged 8.3 kills and 12 assists on four deaths throughout the series, including a masterful 13-kill, 22-assist performance on his signature Storm Spirit in his team's lone win.

In a post on his personal Twitter account following the loss, SumaiL bemoaned the fact that he will be missing out on Dota 2's world championship tournament for the second-straight year.

SumaiL's spiralling career

SumaiL has long been considered as one of the best players in the history of Dota 2. He burst into the scene in 2015 as the prodigy midlaner for Evil Geniuses (EG), leading the team to championship of TI5 and becoming the youngest player to ever claim the Aegis of Champions at just 16 years and 176 days old.

SumaiL would go on to help EG earn Top 3 finishes at TI6 and TI8 before leaving the team at the end of 2019. He had a short stint with Quincy Crew before moving to Western Europe to join OG in January 2020.

While SumaiL left the team in July of that year and became a stand-in for Team Liquid from April to June 2021, he would rejoin OG for the qualifiers of TI10 and lead them to a spot in that year's world championship tournament.

SumaiL and OG only managed a Top 8 finish at TI10, having been swept out of the tournament by eventual champions Team Spirit, with the midlaner leaving the team in November to join Team Secret.

SumaiL's time with Secret did not produce successful results, leading to his departure in May 2022. The midlaner later joined Nigma Galaxy, where he would have another unsuccessful year that ended with him missing out on his first-ever TI after the team bombed out of the Western European qualifiers for TI 2022.

While SumaiL would play a majority of the 2023 DPC season with Nigma Galaxy, he ended up moving to China for the last leg of the season after being loaned to Aster in May.

As a member of Aster, SumaiL helped the team finish in the Top 8 of the Berlin Major, third in the DPC Summer Tour regional league for China, and 9th-12th in the Bali Major. He also helped the team finish in the Top 8 of third-party tournaments DreamLeague Season 20 and Riyadh Masters 2023.

It is unclear if SumaiL will remain with Aster for the next DPC season as his contract with the team is widely believed to only last until the conclusion of TI 2023.

Similar to SumaiL, Aster has also been on a downward spiral this season.

Things looked promising for the squad after they finished fourth in TI 2022. However, their surge was ground to a halt after star midlaner Zeng "Ori" Jiaoyang suddenly retired last November.

Aster signed rookie Zhai "Xwy" Jingkai to replace Ori, but the new midlaner could not replicate the success of his predecessor. This eventually led to the team choosing to loan SumaiL from Nigma Galaxy, a move that many expected would revitalize the struggling squad.

But while SumaiL was the bright spot the team needed, other issues within Aster contributed to the team's eventual collapse in the TI 2023 qualifiers.

In early July, Aster parted ways with longtime support player Ye "BoBoKa" Zhibiao, who had been with the team since 2018. BoBoKa's departure came as a result of a rift between him and the rest of the team's Chinese players.

Aster replaced BoBoKa with another veteran in Hu "Kaka" Liangzhi for TI 2023's Chinese regional qualifers, though the team was unable to gel in time to earn a spot in this year's world championship tournament.

TI 2023's regional qualifiers will run until 31 August, with the competition being split into three five-day phases where two regions will compete in each phase.

The qualifiers for North America and China kicked off the competition and will both conclude on 21 August. The qualifiers for South America and Eastern Europe will follow from 22 to 26 August while Western Europe and Southeast Asia will close things out from 27 to 31 August.

TI 2023 will be hosted across multiple weekends from 12 to 29 October in Seattle, the United States. This year's tournament also features a revamped format split into two distinct phases, called 'The Road to The International' and 'The International' itself.

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